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10/02/2016

YouTube Kids

The monkeys got their own iPad Mini's for Christmas and have since been using a very cool kid friendly app. YouTube kids! An app built with parents and children in mind that makes it easier for children to find videos on topics they want to explore. It’s the first step in re imagining YouTube for families and it’s now available to download for free on Google Play and the App Store.

Here are some of the key features:

Bright and playful designThe app’s design makes it easy to find your child's desired video or the latest video of In The Night Garden. With larger images and bold icons, it’s fast and simple for little thumbs to navigate. It has very cool built in voice search. Even if your child can't spell or type, they can still find videos of things they’re curious about. The monkeys love this feature and can often be heard saying "Minions Kinder Surprise"!

Family-focused contentThe YouTube Kids app is a safer version of YouTube. A family-friendly place for children to explore their imagination and curiosity. You can browse channels and play lists in four categories: Shows, Music, Learning and Explore. Search for videos of particular interest to your family. Of course, your children can watch new series from YouTube channels they already liked.

Parental controlsYouTube have built options into the app that help you control the experience for your children and put parents in the driving seat. Learn how the app works: When parents open YouTube Kids, they learn upfront how systems choose and recommend content and how to flag videos. If you ever find a video you’re concerned about, please flag it. This helps make YouTube Kids better for everyone.

Search settings: You are prompted you to make a choice about how broadly you want your child to explore - turn search on to access millions of family-friendly videos, or turn search off to restrict your child’s experience to a more limited set. Either way, parents decide the right experience for their family from the word go.

Timer: Let the app be the bad guy with a built-in timer that lets you limit your child's screen time. The app alerts your child when the session is over, so you don’t have to. How cool is that!

Sound settings: Sometimes you need a little peace and quiet! You have an option to turn off background music and sound effects, so your children can keep watching while you catch a breath. That is very much welcome in this house!

Custom passcode: Parents have the ability to set their own passcode, and to access settings and other parental information in the app.

Logged out experience: The app is currently a signed-out experience with no ties to an account. We’ve also removed all features that are linked to an account like uploading, sharing, liking, etc. I like this a lot!

You can also watch YouTube Kids on the big screen using Chromecast, Apple TV, game consoles or a smartTV.

I'm really impressed with YouTube Kids. The monkeys use it safely and I'm reassured they are watching content suitable for their viewing! It's very easy to navigate and bright and cheerful too! I'm sure there's still lots we don't know about the app! We're still learning. The monkeys use it most days and are now huge fans of unwrapping videos! Ideal for children aged 3-8 years.

As a thank you for this post the monkeys were sent a great YouTube Kids rucksack with some goodies inside!

We hope you like the app as much as we do. I'm happy allowing them to watch videos on there knowing they are safe in doing so. Before this we would not allow the monkey to use YouTube without an adult being right there with them 100% of the time!

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Hello. Welcome to my Parenting & Lifestyle blog. Mum to these two monkeys (8 and 6), they keep me on my toes! Blogging about family life, fun days out, keeping fit, my love of shoes, food, clothes and much more!